Golden sunlight shone down upon Florence, the largest city of the Hongli Empire, on August 9. The glazed tiles of the spired and domed buildings reflected the sunlight, and the towering clock tower rang right on schedule.0

Residents began their daily lives as they made their way to the commercial district, where numerous shops opened their doors. In District Two, various council and government offices were also busy as uniformed employees went in and out.0

Meanwhile, the main headquarters of the Treatment Ward was in the more remote area of Florence's District Seven. Organized into squads of five, over a dozen hunting teams quietly departed Florence's urban area and discreetly moved toward several neighboring counties.0

Their target this time, Blood Shark, was not easy to capture, as its dark creature transformation had become extremely severe. Not only had it become strong enough to seriously wound the former Number Four Shadow Hunter, Soul Scythe Ivica, but after half a year of recuperation, Blood Shark had very likely regained its sense of reason. Unfortunately, its sense of reason belonged to a dark creature's mind.0

When a hunter was influenced by calamity and transformed into a beast, his consciousness would become chaotic and deranged. However, when humans drew closer to becoming dark creatures, they instead obtained a certain kind of intellect. However, that intellect belonged to an entirely different...0